Aircraft engines generate sound and heat in their operation. Excessive sound is undesirable largely because of disturbance to surrounding communities. Heat is undesirable particularly in both military and civil aircraft, which may be tracked by ground-based missiles that seek heat in the form of infrared radiation. Heat is also undesirable because it degrades aircraft surface structure and increases the cost of manufacture and maintenance. The design of the aircraft profoundly impacts the sound and heat that are observed from the ground.
Conventional subsonic civil aircraft designs commonly feature engine placement underneath the airplane's wings. Conventional supersonic military aircraft designs commonly feature engine placement in the aft-most portion of the airplane with the nozzles extending aft of the wing and control surfaces. The sound pressure level produced by the engines, herein generally referred to as noise, and particularly jet noise or the “roar” heard at takeoff, travels largely unabated to communities. For under-wing engine installations this noise is amplified by the under-surface of the wing because the portion of the sound produced by the engines that would otherwise radiate upward is reflected downward off of the under-surface. The jet plume interacts with the wing trailing edge. Both the under-surface reflection and the jet plume interaction with the wing trailing edge add to the overall noise heard below. Even when engines are located higher than wings, aircraft generally offer little in the way of impeding the downward travel of sound due to the absence of a surface that covers a substantial extent of the downward sound propagation path. Technological improvements in engines have resulted in a gradual reduction of engine noise over time, but further reductions based on similar improvements will likely be minimal.
Heat, in the form of infrared radiation, similarly radiates from aircraft engines and, unless otherwise shielded, will emit or reflect down and outward into directions that can be used by would-be threats to try and target aircraft operating in zones of armed conflict. Whether or not aircraft are fitted with protective countermeasures equipment, aircraft that project heat and noise toward the community don't offer any preventative deterrence against the would-be threat, such as interrupting the weapon targeting process. On production aircraft normally constrained by application of traditional commercial design practices for noise reduction, there has been varied interest and success gaining a comparable natural reduction in heat emissions without extra penalty or cost. The interests of military and special purpose aircraft operators and procurement officials continue to be focused on affordability and burdens for installed defensive systems for aircraft and crew protection, even though affordable design improvements with the starting point of the aircraft could be gratis and more enduring.
In the case of supersonic aircraft, the propulsion system also contributes to the sonic boom produced during supersonic flight. Reduction of sonic boom from typical levels is widely believed to be necessary for regulators to ever accept civil supersonic flight. The characteristic N-wave of a sonic boom is created both by shockwaves produced at the fore and aft regions of the aircraft. Strides have been made at reducing fore shocks. An appreciable reduction in sonic boom annoyance, however, cannot be realized without reduction of both fore and aft shocks, a portion of which is typically produced by the propulsion system.